Central Public Schools got some great news from the 2025 MCA Test results and data with strong growth and achievement in many grade levels and areas! Elementary, middle, and high school grades all had something to be proud of, not only with actual scores, but in the strong growth shown over the previous year.
At Central Elementary some of the highlights included:
68.4% of students met or exceeded standards in math — a jump of nearly 10 percentage points from last year
27.8% of students exceeded standards in math which is a high achievement especially considering that historically, this number is around 20%
Reading proficiency rose a total of 13.6 percentage points over 2024
19.3% of students exceeded standards in reading nearly double of the usual number of around 10%
These results are due to the hard work taking place in and out of the classroom including extensive professional development for teachers, updates to curriculum, and finding ways to personalize instruction and increase overall rigor. Central Public Schools improved in both math and reading while several neighboring districts declined.
“We’ve all been excited about what is happening at Central for a while and when you know you are implementing good things it would be nice if we could see that immediately in the results but it takes time,” said Curriculum Leader Andrea Kolstad. “There has been so much work being done so it’s fun to celebrate some success on these tests, especially when you look at it from a growth standpoint. We are trending in the right direction and it is a way to reinforce that this work is impactful.”
Middle school grades also saw some great growth including consistent upward momentum in mathematical understanding and a nearly nine point increase in reading which shows strong literacy gains. At the high school level students are performing 10.6 points higher than the state average in math and 16.6 points higher in reading. Central High School also had the biggest jump in growth of any of our neighboring districts with 11.8 points of growth over 2024!
“These results really are something to be excited about because it shows what can happen when a community invests in its schools and believes in the mission and vision of the district,” said Superintendent Tim Schochenmaier. “It can be tempting to look at these results only in terms of how the percentages compare to 100% but the real story is in the growth year to year. Changing little things in the classroom and providing more support for our staff is having an impact on student outcomes and that is what it is all about.”
At the September 2025 Board meeting, Kolstad shared a slide that really speaks volumes about the importance of recognizing that community investment truly does translate to return on investment. The big takeaways were:
Universal Improvement - All three levels—elementary, middle, and high school—showed gains in both math and reading proficiency in 2025
Reading Renaissance - Dramatic reading score increases: +13.6 points (elementary), +8.7 points (middle), and +11.8 points (high school)
Math Momentum - District-wide math improvements, with notable double-digit growth at Central Elementary leading the charge
State Excellence - CPS outperformed Minnesota's state averages in both math and reading across multiple grade levels
The work will continue with the curriculum review cycle plans for the 2025-26 school year of adopting and purchasing math resources for K-12 to be implemented in 2027–28. The district is focusing efforts on training and standards alignment, ensuring educators are prepared for the transition ahead while also implementing Creative Curriculum and TS Gold for PreK programs, completing year two of LETRS training, and more!